A Local Festival Worth Boasting About: Sundance Film Festival

Posted on 21 January 2016

Nestled in Salt Lake City, Utah between pretty impressive mountains, our DownEast headquarters boasts some of the best views in the world (though we might be biased). And every January, along with perfect fluffy snow, the city hosts power house talent as the Sundance Film Festival comes through.

Sundance Film Festival started almost 40 years ago as a way to show small independent American films, and now celebrates some of the best domestic and international films around. Directors, producers, actors, and corporations looking to market to the clientele descend on Utah for what has become the most celebrated film festival in North America.

The festival was originally founded by legendary actor and director Robert Redford at his Sundance Resort. It quickly outgrew the location, with now close to 50,000 film lovers, devotees and Hollywood superstars flocking to the event.

The festival begins today and runs for 10 days, being hosted primarily in Park City, UT, but with films along the Wasatch front at Sundance Resort, Salt Lake City, Park City, and Ogden.

We love the festival because of its anti-exclusive nature. Everyone can get tickets, and big celebrities can be seen chomping on popcorn right next to the fun-loving movie goer. So, nab some tickets www.sundance.org/festival/tickets and head on over with us this week.

A documentary about former New Orleans Saints defensive back Steve Gleason, who was diagnosed with ALS at age 34, and found out his wife was pregnant weeks later. This is a video journal that began as a gift for his unborn son expands to chronicle Steve’s determination to get his relationships in order, build a foundation to provide other ALS patients with purpose, and adapt to his declining physical condition.

A drily witty mockumentary format about a beautiful, a young Frenchwoman, Jacqueline Dumont who claims to have uncovered a covert assassination conspiracy. An unnamed filmmaker arrives only to doubt the worthwhileness of his venture, but finds reasons to hope that he might actually be capturing something big and something real. It’s expected to be a hilarious, low-key misadventure that reflects the uncertainties and hopefulness inherent in every artistic endeavor.

A documentary about a female rapper in conservative Iran, where Sonita’s talents are a liability. But Sonita dreams big with solid beats, fierce rhymes, and politically sensitive videos noting the constant injustice, fear, and sexism women endure. Her charismatic presence and spirited eyes change her fortune leading her to a scholarship that takes her to Afghanistan and ultimately to Utah. This will be an intimate portrait of creativity and womanhood, Sonita highlights the rarely seen intricacies and shifting contrasts of Iranian society through the lens of an artist who is defines the next generation.